The Senate inched closer Monday to final passage of the Laken Riley Act, which requires immigration officials to detain illegal migrants who engage in theft, shoplifting and related crimes.
Lawmakers voted 82-10 to consider the measure, with dozens of Democrats joining Republicans in approval.
“The bipartisan Laken Riley Act would not only address glaring holes in our immigration policy, but it would hopefully prevent other families from suffering the pain that Laken Riley’s has suffered,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said.
The bill is named after a 22-year-old Georgia nursing student who was attacked, viciously strangled and beaten to death by an illegal immigrant while jogging in February 2024, triggering nationwide outrage.
Tren de Aragua gangbanger Jose Ibarra, 26, was convicted of Riley’s murder and sentenced to life in prison in November.
Ibarra had past run-ins with the law prior to attacking Riley. For instance, he had been arrested for child endangerment after blitzing through the streets of Queens on a moped with his wife’s five-year-old son holding on for dear life, law enforcement sources previously told The Post.
Months before Riley’s murder, Ibarra made a December 2023 court appearance in Georgia on a shoplifting charge.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials later explained that Ibarra was not held following his New York arrest because he was released before the agency was able to issue a detainer.
Officials also revealed that Ibarra had illegally crossed the southern border into El Paso, Texas on Sept. 8, 2022, before being released due to insufficient detention space.
Republicans and other critics have cited Riley killing as evidence of the failure of the Biden administration’s border and immigration policies.
The Laken Riley Act is designed to forestall a repeat of that situation.
The bill also empowers states to sue the federal government for damages stemming from failure to enforce immigration law.
The GOP-controlled House passed a similar bill last year, but it was never taken up by the Democrat-controlled Senate.
Now that Republicans have the upper chamber, they are hoping to wrangle it through as a ready-to-sign measure when President-elect Donald Trump takes office next week.
